DA weighs charges in Peninsula school kidnap try

SAN MATEO -- As prosecutors weighed charges against a San Francisco man accused of trying to snatch an elementary student from her school, district officials on Monday promised to improve security.

In response to the alleged attempt to kidnap a 9-year-old girl Friday afternoon at Parkside Elementary School on Eisenhower Street, district workers will tighten campus entry points and may reconsider entrance policies, officials said. A meeting is planned Wednesday morning at the school to field questions from anxious parents.

"We were very shocked and dismayed by what this man did," said Molly Barton, assistant superintendent for student services for San Mateo-Foster City School District. "This is a big deal for us."

Suspect Bradley Mrozek, 25, is being held without bail as prosecutors decide whether to charge him, District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said. If charged, Mrozek would go before a judge in San Mateo County Superior Court on Tuesday afternoon.

Police say Mrozek assaulted a 9-year-old student at Parkside and took her a short distance from the campus before she kicked him and escaped. Mrozek was arrested early Saturday and was booked on suspicion of child molestation, kidnapping with intent to commit sexual assault and assault with intent to commit a sex crime.

Authorities also said they tied Mrozek to incidents at Horrall Elementary School and Bayside STEM Academy. At Bayside a man allegedly offered alcohol to students and was escorted off the grounds at Horrall, police said.

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Barton said school officials don't know how Mrozek got onto Parkside campus. It doesn't appear staff made any mistakes, but there may be weakness in the site's security. As a result, officials will be adding a gate to a gap in a school fence as well as mandating a handful of gates be closed and locked during class time.

In the past, parents were allowed to come into the school's corridors and wait for their children at the end of the day. Barton said the district and the parents may reconsider such practices in the name of safety.

"We don't know how he got on campus," she said. "When something like this happens, we all feel like it is absolutely our responsibility to take care of this."